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IT Crowd star for Simpsons writer's show

IT Crowd star Richard Ayoade and Royle Family creator Caroline Aherne are among the voices cast for a new BBC animated comedy.

Created by Josh Weinstein (The Simpsons, Futurama), Strange Gill High will air on CBBC and also features voiceovers from Doc Brown, Emma Kennedy and John Thompson.

The show has been created with 'hypervynorama', a new animation technique that combines Japanese vinyl toy design and puppetry with stop-motion animation and CGI.

Strange Gill High is based at an "all-but-forgotten inner-city school filled with fantastical secrets and outlandish mysteries" and will centre on the quick-witted and street smart Mitchell Tanner (Doc Brown) and his friends Becky Butters (Emma Kennedy) and class nerd Templeton (Richard Ayoade).

Showrunner Weinstein said: "I've worked in animation my whole life and I've never seen a show as groundbreaking as Strange Hill High. And when the ground breaks at Strange Hill, you never know what will come out."

A first season total 13 episodes have been commissioned for the first series, which will air this spring.